thank you, next
by xcerebus
Summary: He never leaves her mind, is always there –mentally if not physically. Betty is only beginning to grasp what it means to be with Jughead, that he is her anchor, her save place to land, her one stability in a world filled with chaos. Someone she desperately needs in her life. Archie taught her how to love, but Jughead taught her how to be in love. — Bughead, Oneshot


**thank you, next.**

Archie sees the gazes. He isn't an idiot, especially when it comes to girls. In fact, he is probably the least clueless about these kind of things out of his group of friends.

He just chooses to ignore it, because he rather not lead her on, rather not break her heart. He knows what heartbreak feels like, what it tastes like and he rather shelters her from it than pushing her to experience it.

But to be honest, he knows what is coming anyway. No point in prolonging the inevitable.

. . .

Jughead didn't fall head over heels for her the first time they met. In fact, the first time he met her, he distinctly remembers that she spilled her vanilla flavoured milkshake all over him as she tripped over her own feet (the fact that she doesn't stumble over every crack in the sidewalk out of clumsiness actually amazes him). If that wasn't bad enough –that girl ruined his most favourite shirt after all, she sent his ten-year-old body spiralling to the ground in no way gracefully, nearly knocking him out.

It is kind of hard to fall for a girl that almost knocks you unconscious by accident. Their relationship is based upon her apologizing, relying on the power of the annoyingly distracting blue-green hue in her eyes ( _don't let the doe-eyed look fool you_ , he keeps telling himself, _she is as sly as a dog_ ) and his frustrated frowns and disapproving forest green eyes when she starts teasing him again seconds later.

That is it, nothing more.

What more can you expect from _that_ sort of relationship.

. . .

Betty is a hopeless romantic. She believes in love at first sight, soulmates and destined lovers, regardless of the tragedies being involved. She absorbs the anguish and joys of what love is meant to be, engulfes herself in the thought of _being_ loved.

But just because she is a hopeless romantic, doesn't mean she is also a hopeless dreamer. Betty knows when it is a lost cause, when it is time to move on. She is old enough to know hopeless romantics and hopeless dreamers are doomed to fail, no matter how hard they may try working at it, no matter how rightful their feelings may seem on the surface, no matter how laborious the efforts are.

 _But in every end there is a beginning_ , she reminds herself invariably.

So she confesses.  
And so she is rejected.

. . .

Jughead knows that she will be his weakness forever (a thorn which could be used against him) and thus, with a heavy heart he ignors the nagging feeling of longing in his chest for quite a while –only to kiss and date her later anyway.

. . .

Betty is completely unprepared. You would think that after all these years Jughead and her are acquainted –watching movies at the Drive-In, sharing fries and Milkshakes at Pop's, laughing about jokes only them find entertaining, that she would know everything she needs to know about him, but she is wrong.

His lips feel great on hers.

. . .

"We've got a spark," he remarks amusedly, a small smirk on his lips, forest green eyes glistering.

She scoffs, attempting to hide her smile, "Whatever you say, Jug."  
Betty tries to push it down as nothing, but she knows better than anyone else that it is something.

"You don't fool me Betts." He murmurs softly, almost unspoken. He moves to kiss her cheek, but she turns her head so his lips find hers instead.

"I know."

She loves it when he calls her like that.

. . .

He never leaves her mind, is always there –mentally if not physically. Betty is only beginning to grasp what it means to be with Jughead, that he is her anchor, her save place to land, her one stability in a world filled with chaos. Someone she desperately needs in her life.

Archie taught her how _to_ love, but Jughead taught her how to be _in_ love.

. . .

Rarely does he call her past one AM, but on the nights that he does, he usually is distressed with thoughts adrift and always a microsecond close to admitting his love.

 _Perhaps with her the rain will dissipate_ , he thinks.

So he does.

(And at the end of the rainbow, where the colours collide and explode and revive in infinite cycles, he sees her)

. . .

 _This is what falling in love is like_ , she thinks.

For the longest time Betty believed she knew what love felt like, longed for Archie to return her feelings, to stop the world if he did so, that it would be just them wandering the earth together in blissful happiness.  
The older she got the more she yearned to obtain the thriving apple from the tree of knowledge, and regretted –immediately, the doomed day she did. She was running after something she just couldn't reach, waited patiently for the day that the apple would be ripe, only to see that it was already fermented.

You may think that Betty was distraught when she was rejected, but you can't be heartbroken about an unrequited love that was nothing more than a simple, childish _crush_. Don't misunderstand; she cried –wept, bawled, multiple puddles of tears for the feelings she thought she had when they were only wishful thinking, but learns that fretting over something that isn't even real isn't her thing.

Maybe she is a hopeless dreamer after all.

. . .

Betty thinks she will only fall in love once.  
She is right.

(keeps falling in love with Jughead over and over again)

. . .

Heartache is realizing that an insatiable fire is burning your insides uncontrollably, that it is breathtaking in the sense of stealing any leftover ounces of oxygen to fuel it, that remembering keeps it burning and that one day _he_ will burn her too.

Archie taught her _sadness_ , but it will be Jughead that teaches her _heartache_.

. . .

He moves closer, puts an arm around her back slowly and then his emerald eyes are fixed on her, foreheads touching and breaths in sync. She feels his breathe on her skin and it makes her tremble inside, "I love you Betty."

She finds his other hand, needles her fingers through his, like water through sand, "I love you too, Jug."

("Thank you."  
"For what?"  
"For being you.")

. . .

Prince Charming and Cinderella had no happy ever after for once.

But Romeo and Juliet will.

 **i am so fucking grateful for my ex.**

* * *

 **A/N:** I have absolutely no idea what mess this is. I binge-watched all of Riverdale two days ago and am just in love with Betty and Jughead. I always felt as if Archie was just a crush, but someone she thought she had to be with because it was supposed to be the perfect love story. Thank You, Next by Ariana Grande inspired me a lot as I wanted to show that Betty is thankful for the feelings she had for Archie as they led her to (what I suppose is) her true love, Jughead. This is not proofread or anything, but I still hope you will like it.


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